Police: Boy found at prostitution site

Police: Boy found at prostitution site

Mom, alleged pimp arrested in hotel sting

New Orleans — New Orleans police say they found a preschooler in a hotel room being used for prostitution Monday night, and the boy’s mother and her alleged pimp are now in jail.

Police reported the situation Tuesday and even held a news conference to discuss the incident. In an email, Det. Mark Mumme said 8th District officers arrested Miranda Crisp, 25, and Mark Jackson, 34, of Texas, as part of an investigation into prostitution using the website backpage.com. Crisp was booked with prostitution, while Jackson was booked with pandering and trespassing.

Mumme said undercover officers set up a rendezvous with Crisp at an undisclosed hotel in the 8th District, which includes the French Quarter and Central Business District. During the meeting, the detectives noticed that another woman left the room with Crisp and went to another room in the hotel.

After securing enough evidence to arrest Crisp, the officers went to the other room and found Jackson and Nayella Landa, 18, who also was working as a prostitute, according to her Internet ads. In addition, they found Crisp’s 4-year-old son in the room.

Crisp later admitted that she’d brought the boy to the city with her while she worked as a stripper and prostitute for Jackson.

Police brought the boy to the juvenile detention center while they waited for state officials to arrive. Landa is no longer in custody.

According to police, in the past year, the 8th District’s narcotics unit has handled 70 prostitution cases and five pandering cases related to backpage.com. Some of those cases also were investigated with State Police, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

In total, during the same time period, police have handled 200 prostitution cases.